Chris Saul's Blog

Sunday June 01, 2008

The Gulf 'S'

I wonder if grammarians have a term for the ubiquitous plural that gets added on to business names and signs in English here in the Gulf?

It's actually quite logical, when you think about it -

'Cars and air conditioners repairs'

'Fruits and vegetables selling'

'Hearts and arteries diseases'

...instead of

'Car and air conditioner repair'

'Fruit and vegetable sales'

...etc.

You're repairing more than one car and an air conditioner, selling fruits and vegetables and possibly getting diseases in your hearts and arteries, so a plural makes sense, even if it's not idiomatic English. Ok, you only have one heart (unless you're Doctor Who), but a group of patients means several hearts.

Dubai's losing some of its more esoteric business names and descriptions as things become more sophisticated. My old rule still stands though - the longer the name, the smaller the business. Thus you have 'Emaar', a huge property developer and the 'Mohammed Ali Bin Zulfan Bin Ali Coffee Shop', a small window off the Al Wasl Rd through which tea gets shoved.

I also like the way the business's name leaves you in no doubt as to what the company makes or the service it provides. Take 'Ali bin Ali Foodstuff Selling' or 'Mohammed A. Concrete Block Factory', for example. Noone rings them up by mistake to ask if they repair air conditioners. Even if they probably do as well.

An alternative naming approach is to take the words 'luck', 'star', 'king', 'royal' and a few other staples and mix them up to make your name. This gives you 'Lucky Moon Capentries Making', 'Royal Star Tailors' and other great combos.

First prize for the best name, as mentioned before in this blog, is still held by the 'Brides of Nomadism Furniture Company'.

Goodbye, dear friend

My Toshiba Tecra S1 is on its way out.

After three and a half years of trusty service to me and over four years of even trustier service to Sun, the fan is starting to rattle and the screen, to use a technical phrase, is going all weird. It's been dropped in Tanzania, fallen off the x-ray in Uzbekistan, frozen solid in Moscow and thawed out in Kuwait City. Today's gentle trip to Bucharest appears to have been the last straw.

Although its old, its specs still aren't bad at all, with 2GB, great speakers and a 1400x1050 screen, I'd be more than happy to continue with it. Although I also have Ubuntu and Solaris 10 installed, I've frankly been perfectly happy with the Windows XP it came with.

Toshibas have been the laptop of choice for Sun for years. Solid, good warranty, Solaris drivers, don't compete in any way with Sun, etc, etc. Despite this, the current trend at the moment is for everyone to switch to Macs. Macbooks are now on the list of what employees can get in the Dubai office, as well as most of the other Sun locations I visit.

Personally I'd prefer to have another Toshiba, but I think I may be forced down the Mac path. The model I currently have is great, but it's really always been too big for someone who travels a lot. Sadly the current choice of replacement Toshiba is even bigger than this one. I can't face having to lug something even bigger around. There was a brief window of opportunity, which I've missed, to get an ultra-small Toshiba Portege - perfect for my needs. These turned out to be too expensive and have been withdrawn, so the Macbook's the only thing that'll meet my size requirements.

The current office situation is a bit odd - people who could really do with the luggable Toshiba appear to have ended up with the teeny Portege. I may end up doing a deal with a Portege owner. They can have my new ten ton Tosh in a swap for their Portege.

Or maybe, just maybe, I will go for a Macbook. If I do, I will have to make great efforts not to turn into a burbling Mac freak, waxing lyrical at the drop of a hat at how easy it is to use and squeaking with delight when an icon does a bouncy bouncy thing when I click it. One of my colleagues even cleans his Mac in the office with a wetwipe on occasion - a clear sign of how Mac ownership can drive someone over the edge.